“I certainly will, and you know it,” Trump said in his first explicit commitment to leave office if the process didn’t go his way, adding: “It’s going to be a very difficult thing to admit because we know there was fraud.”
When asked if he would attend Biden’s January 20 inauguration, Trump said, “I know the answer,” but declined to elaborate.
The defeated president’s meeting with the media, the first in the three weeks since he lost the election, was an irritable affair in some parts, as he continued to make claims that his legal team has not lobbied in court but works in the public domain.
At one point, Trump got angry with Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason and told him: “You are a lightweight … Don’t tell me that … I am the President of the United States. Never talk to the president like that. ”Mason had spoken about Trump, pressing a follow-up question about granting the election even as the president alleged fraud.
Trump has had a contentious relationship with the main White House press body that is openly skeptical of his claims. He had mocked Mason for wearing a mask and once asked him to remove it before asking a question at a press conference, which the reporter refused to do, insisting that he was happy to speak up if Trump didn’t. I could hear it.
Hours after Thursday’s meeting, Trump took his anger to social media, calling for the termination “on national security grounds” of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, apparently upset by the trending hashtag #DiaperDon On twitter. Section 230 provides immunity from prosecution for websites that post third-party content.
“Twitter is sending totally false ‘Trends’ that have absolutely nothing to do with what is really trending in the world. They make it up, and only negative ‘things’. The same will happen to Twitter as it does to @FoxNews during the day. Also, great conservative discrimination! “Trump was enraged when critics humiliated him with memes and parodies that poked fun at him, including the fact that he sat at a child-sized desk for Thursday’s event to broadcast the Thanksgiving message to American troops.
Twitter is sending totally false “Trends” that have absolutely nothing to do with what is really trending on… https://t.co/B8DIPJ3eT7
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1606450005000
News of that event was brushed aside as Trump continued his campaign to denigrate the US election on the grounds that he was defeated by fraud.
“They robbed us. They robbed us. I won it by hundreds of thousands of votes. Everyone knows it,” he said. He also insisted that there was no way Biden had gotten 80 million votes, far more than President Obama’s record of 70 million votes in 2008, even though the American population (and also the size of the electorate) has increased. by nearly 25 million since then.
“If the media were honest and great technology was fair, it wouldn’t even be a contest. And I would have won by a huge amount, “Trump said, quickly correcting himself to say,” And I won by a huge amount. ”
He said he still didn’t want to talk about racing in 2024 as, in his eyes, the 2020 race was not over yet.
There has been speculation about Trump’s next steps, as he has remained in a safe haven in the White House since his defeat, occasionally emerging to play golf at a resort in nearby Virginia. On Thursday, he gave every indication that he will remain politically active by revealing that he will visit Georgia to campaign for two Republican senators locked in a runoff. Losing both will hand the Senate to Democratic control.
Trump doesn’t appear to be particularly engaged outside of Twitter since his electoral defeat, with few public commitments even as the coronavirus continues to rampage across the country. On Thursday, he seemed resentful that the vaccine to protect against Covid-19 had arrived after the elections, and said sadly: “Vaccines, and by the way, don’t let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccine ..? Don’t let him take credit for the vaccines, because the vaccines were me. ”
According to the rules regarding the elections, any challenge to the results must be resolved before December 8. All states must certify their results before the Electoral College meets on December 14. The United States Congress will meet on January 6, 2021 to formally certify the results of the Electoral College. and declare the winner of the White House.
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